After setting a modern day record for saves in a shutout since expansion, things should get tougher for Ben Scrivens. That's the life of an Edmonton Oilers goalie.

OILERS-BRUINS CONNECTIONS

The history of the two teams is connected in so many ways, and of course they've met in the grandest games of all, the Stanley Cup Finals.

Oiler connections from the Bruins 1972 team: Ted Green (who would coach for the Oilers); Johnny Bucyk (from Edmonton, played for the Edmonton Flyers before going to the NHL); Garnet Bailey (scouted for the Oilers, also served as a minor league coach)

Bruins connections from the Oilers 1990 team: Glen Sather (began his NHL playing career as an Bruin); Ted Green (a top defenseman for the Bruins); Garnet Bailey (began his NHL playing career as a Bruin); Lorne Davis (played for the Bruins in the 1950's); Craig MacTavish (began his NHL playing career as a Bruin); Bill Ranford (began his NHL playing career as a Bruin)

Of course there are many other connections, but the two clubs are tied together by more than those two Stanley Cup finals.

SCRIVENS!

You've no doubt heard of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly? The Oilers coverage this season has been a whole lot of ugly, and the defensive side of the puck is job one in the coming off-season. However, Ben Scrivens stole a game the other night, one of a very few performances this season where the Oiler goalie ripped the heart from their opponent (Bachman!).

An NHL team needs that, especially a team like the Oilers. This season has been a lot about poor goaltending and a shameful power play, but the Scrivens acquisition is a good sign for the future.

Sign that man!

LINEUP

After that San Jose game, we know the name of the starting goalie. After that, I assume there will be changes, especially in light of the Mark Fraser pickup.

Andrew Ference may draw back in—I can't imagine wild horses keeping him away—so a 'best guess' at the lineup might be this:

less running around in their own zone. The Oilers style of chasing the puck is much harder than positioning, surely they've learned this (over and over again).

a sleepy first period. This early game business usually results in a sputtering start.

Taylor Hall. That is all.

Boyd Gordon doing his usual spectacular work with little or no credit on the game broadcast.

That second line surprising with solid play.

A big crunching hit from Fraser in which he does not take a penalty and does not lose position.

A power-play goal from the Russian.

GAME DAY PREDICTION

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Boston, 6-3-1 in their last 10, might have a tough time with the upstart Oilers, 4-5-1 in their last 10. The Bruins have their share of wonky blue, and there aren't many Taylor Hall's in the eastern conference. A 3-2 OT win for the home team.

OBVIOUS: Bruins physically dominate the Oilers, Chara scores, Lucic scores, Iginla scores and it's a 5-0 whitewashing that drives us to the malls shortly after noon local time.

NOT SO OBVIOUS: The Oilers skaters, shamed by the San Jose performance, return to the responsible play of the previous two games and win it in overtime, 3-2. Scrivens first-star again!

Do the Oilers leave a defenseman behind in Boston? We wait.

Lowetide has been one of the Oilogosphere's shining lights for over a century. You can check him out here at OilersNation and at lowetide.ca. He is also the host of Lowdown with Lowetide weekday mornings 10-noon on TSN 1260.

Wow they got an obvious one right!!! Question is how is he allowed to stand there all alone?

Three guesses. Gagner again on his knees because any type of defence escapes this idiot. I'm to important to play defence and my teeth might get worse. Trade this fool for a bag of pucks and move on. I HATE Gagme!!!

holy @#$@, just as I typed the last post, these guys keep making bad plays one after another...hall is deep enough in the zone in the PP, did a stupid drop pass all the way to JSchultz, hard to blame him coughing up the puck when someone is charging at him, thank goodness Scrivens defended the breakaway...this team just never learn...nothing Eakins can do....just plain lack of awareness of simple plays by the oilers, sigh!

not sure if everyone is watching the game like me....that PP we just had...1st unit did ok..2nd unit stepped on..hemsky can't control the dump-in, puck got sent down, next possession, after the dump-in, puck was sent around to gagner on the right side, he can't control the puck, lost the zone, next possession, ference slaps the puck in from left side, with 3 oilers on the left side and only hemsky on the other end...why would ference do that? Then Hemsky spun around and try to do a behind-the-back pass to ference, kreiji picked off and create 3 on 2 chance...so many bad plays within 1 minute!!!

Three guesses. Gagner again on his knees because any type of defence escapes this idiot. I'm to important to play defence and my teeth might get worse. Trade this fool for a bag of pucks and move on. I HATE Gagme!!!

Last game when the shut out was on the line (but the win seemed locked up) I was beside myself whenever Gagner was on the ice. I figured for sure he was good for a give away that would nullify the shut out. He did manage to throw it up the middle but Scrivens saved his ass once again.

Looking at the projected line up for Edmonton and aside from the obvious weakness on defence, I am overwhelmed by the black hole that is 2C. This player has one year of experience 7 times, can't/won't play effective defensively, can't win a face off and is a marshmallow on skates. On top of that he plays "cutesy hockey". A drop pass here, a drop pass there. The problem is that the young players on the Oilers see him doing these things and they start to do the same. MacT - please trade him.

The only way the Oilers will get rid of Gags is if they eat more than half his contract. Seems like that might wake katz up when he has to pay over 10 mill to fix a mistake.

Everybody always balks at the thought of using the one buy-out remaining but this must be used on Gagner. He is dragging this team down because he only shows some effort in the offensive zone but absolutely zero effort in the defensive zone. This and he still gets the ice time. This has to be getting noticed by others on the bench. How is that good for the team. He has to be gone before next year or this team will go nowhere. That I am willing to guarantee!
Oh, and fire Smith & Bucky. They look so lost back there. Sad

Yeah its funny how they are giving Gagner way more ice time than he deserves to try to showcase him for a trade. But the only thing they are doing is making him look worse and giving up chances. Not many teams look at his play lately and think man that's the guy we need for 4.8 bills.

I did something new and muted the sound so I didn't have to listen to Quinn & his monkey call the game. Best decision of the weekend so far.
Three more before the break. Three more losses before the break. I can't wait for the Olympics to watch some real hockey. We deserve it after this sh!t show we get to watch day in and day out

I really, really don't which Oiler team is going to show up on this road trip... The scrappy, talented underdogs or the passive, defense-challenged pylons?

GDP: somewhere between 6-1 Bruins to 4-3 Oilers

All I really hope for is for this team to channel the teams from 96-99 and again in spring '08 when still outmatched the team could get by on scrappy, dutiful play and occasionally get a boost from spectacular goaltending.

Well, the only thing good about that game was streaming it on NHL Gamecenter Live over Roku on an actual TV. I'd only watched on a laptop or on a TV with a laptop-quality stream before and the difference was amazing. Such is the life of an ex-pat Oiler fan. Now, I can see every brown spot as the Oilers soil the sheets!!

Anyone going to the Buffalo game? Just got 1st row seats for 68$ on stubhub. This is less than the last row prices in Chicago at least. Should be fun! You can watch the Super Bowl on Sunday followed by the Toilet Bowl on Monday night!

I agree, defence from forwards and defensemen were atrocious....wonder if these guys ever sit in the video room going over their own mistakes...

It's like the Oilers are combining the defensive skills of the 80s Oil, with the offensive prowess of the 90s Devils, and it's so many levels of wrong.

If the forwards don't want to play defence, they better score. I don't care of the Oil allow 40 shots a game and let in 6 goals, as long as they score 7, I'm fine with that.

I don't want to jump on the Bandwagon, but the Oil need to trade a kid for a proper D man and try to sign another one. Spend the money on keeping Scrivens, bring up Bachman, and with the money saved, that should be enough to overpay a defenceman to come here.

It's early, but from what I have seen, Scrivens is fine, it doesn't matter who is between the pipes when the defence is this bad.

And while I'm on this rant, Ference comes back, Oil lose and he is -2, I was alright with the signing in the summer, but now I also see how good the Bruins defence was/is collectively and Ference is being badly exposed now.

hahaha......why do opposing teams and gene keep talking about talented oilers players.....i watched this game and didnt see any such thing.....a couple above average......maybe....then, a lot of less than mediocre players.....ive lik alot of mac T moves,,,,but that gagner contract now looks like a big mistake. we r stuck with him.....ill give him the benefit of doubt.....and chalk it up to him not being the same since his jaw was crushed....

Watching that game, once again it could have easily ended 5-0 for Boston. Can't blame Scrivens for any of those, second was kind of unfortunate. I think MacT has to make a bold defenseman signing before he has any chance of re-signing Scrivens.

Unfortunately , we looked like a last place team today . Totally looked outclassed and never into the game . Really makes you wonder if we can ever become a top notch club with the fab 5 with Gagner and Hemsky . Games like these make it seem that mix is never going to work down the line . Getting very apprehensive about our commitment to fab 5 , they just don't seem to have it against the bigger stronger teams . maybe they should split them up ?

Three guesses. Gagner again on his knees because any type of defence escapes this idiot. I'm to important to play defence and my teeth might get worse. Trade this fool for a bag of pucks and move on. I HATE Gagme!!!

The only way the Oilers will get rid of Gags is if they eat more than half his contract. Seems like that might wake katz up when he has to pay over 10 mill to fix a mistake.

Pairing Fraser with Schultz sr. for his first audition may be difficult for Fraser to play his best before his new coach and GM. Nick Shultz would be an epic fail if he was paired with Orr. I like the recent moves to bring players in who know their own game and play it out each shift.

Mac is still only nibbling at the efges of the problem. The size, speed and skill of the top six must be dealt with. They are mostly boys playing against men. The question is when is the best time to deal with it. Now or the off-season ? I wonder if Mac actually thinks he can get away with buying a cashmere sweater with a red dot on it and expect no one to notice? There are too many AHLer's on this team already. Jerking around 6/7th D and the bottom 6 forwards will not build a credible contending team. IMO.